1. Field of the Invention
Circuit breakers, and more particularly circuit breakers of the type comprising a latched stored-energy mechanism releasable to effect tripping operations.
2. Description of the Prior Art
A circuit breaker having an operating mechanism of the type herein disclosed is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,808,567 issued Apr. 30, 1974 to A. E. Maier and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The latter circuit breaker has a single coil for utilization with a magnetic stored-energy device. It has no provision for being electrically opened manually, i.e., in a non-fault current or non-overload situation as contrasted to being mechanically opened manually. Circuit breakers which have provision for being electrically manually opened usually require a second coil for accomplishing that purpose. It would be advantageous if a circuit breaker opening mechanism could be found which was operable automatically on a sensed fault current or which was operable manually (non-automatically) by pushbutton, relay or similar means. Other patents of interest are U.S. Pat. No. 2,794,881 issued June 4, 1957 to E. J. Frank and U.S. Pat. No. 3,460,075 issued Aug. 5, 1969 to N. Yorgin et al.